Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam looking towards sust🀅ainable tourism development in the era of climate change was the main topic of a conference held in Hanoi on August 17.

As many as 200 domestic and international delegates participated in the event, which was organised by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Deputy Minister Dang Thi Bich Lien said tourism is expected to become a spearhead industry by 2020, contributing over 10 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), bringing home over 15 billion USD in revenues, and generating numerous jobs for workers. To realise the goals, the tourism sector is pushing ahead with sustainable development policy, regarding responsible tourism as the path to success, she said. Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Vietnam Bruno Angelet highlighted climate change as a serious issue that Vietnam and many other countries are encountering. The EU-funded capacity development programme for environmentally and socially responsible tourism in Vietnam (EU-ESRT) aims to help Vietnam increase public awareness on climate change and its impact on the tourism industry, he said. Currently, climate change has affected agriculture, fisheries, culture, tourism, trade and services in Vietnam, as well as transport, industrial construction, and public health, heard the conference. Sea level rise has put some beaches at a high risk of erosion and vanishing, affecting natural resources in coastal low-land areas and damaging cultural heritage sites, sanctuaries and ecological tourism reserves. To cope with the global issue, experts from the EU-ESRT project began building a document guiding good practices for sustainable tourism development in the context of climate change in Vietnam in April 2016. The experts made fact-finding tours in the central coastal localities of Thua Thien – Hue, Quang Nam, and Da Nang along with the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, and An Giang and Kien Giang provinces. At the conference, the VNAT’s Institute for Tourism Development Research and the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in tourism and climate change.-VNA